ITIL CSI – Knowledge Management – Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom

Although it is already an overused phrase, knowledge really is power.

What drives great people to their impassioned causes? What distinguishes great teams against mediocre individuals? What is the foundation of all successful business entities? The answer can all be traced back to the simple - yet fortified notion - that without ample knowledge, all things would crumble over time and buckle under varying challenges.

This holds true, as sufficient knowledge and wisdom are just two of the key factors that helps a business stand the test of time.

By choosing to follow the guidelines set by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the company has the advantage of learning from two decades worth of tips from successful business owners and applications.

The intricate process and structure of ITIL helps keep the business run smoothly, with ample help from its most important process. ITIL's processes within Continual Service Improvement (CSI) helps vigorously monitors each aspects of a company's work process, thus giving the company a great overview of their weak spots and great achievements.

Implementing CSI permanently within a service management organization can work wonders, as it is makes it possible for businesses to be efficient as they are guided by their collected data and knowledge as time wears on.

The knowledge management on various services and process is an integral part of CSI, as through them, it is possible for CSI to compare and contrast various data that would be valuable to the improvement of the company.

Knowledge management is a normal practice among any business entities, as its main function is to distribute collected data, and after which turning them to usable knowledge and wisdom that can help the development of the business.

In order to achieve a concrete insight or enlightened wisdom over a concept, it is best to differentiate over the four concepts of a knowledge spiral.

An 'unprocessed piece of fact or a finding' is more commonly known as data. Data is what team members gather and these are often collected as raw inputs for a process. These are what we use as metrics in a comparison; the quantitative aspect of a project for example, or it can be the qualitative difference of several processes.

As data is compared and contrasted, this process is now what we call information. Information takes place when data is transformed as facts and texts that we can read and understand. When data is organized and processed, it's easier to make use of the data for functionality purposes.

Knowledge transpires when information is mixed with insight, experience, context and interpretation. During this stage, the processed data is reflected upon, and discussed in conjunction with its impact on the business overall.

Whereas the concept of wisdom is achieved when individuals have chosen to take the better course of action with the information on hand. It's the ability to realize which options would benefit the company in the best possible way, that makes wisdom essential in the knowledge spiral.

By going through these four concepts of knowledge, the collected data from various services and processes would help isolate the problem areas of a company, and would definitely be beneficial for the business in the future.

Knowledge management makes use of these concepts, thus making the whole process as a pivotal aspect of CSI. Without gathered data and processed wisdom, the whole CSI process would not be able to distinguish the key services and processes that needs the IT's focal attention.

The proper administration of knowledge management gives the company a great head start on the race against their business competitors. With their data compartmentalized, distributed and processed, this useful piece of wisdom would help the company with finding innovative designs and better concepts that would be of great use for their business.